I'm Rich

I think I've mentioned in the past that I've relied on a trust fund on occasion. Most significantly, it paid for my college tuition, as well as living expenses and other educational fees, such as textbooks. The fund came from one of my grandparents who sold a house he'd bought for my parents, after they stopped living there. A quarter of the profits went to me, but it was put in a trust fund, which I wasn't allowed to receive until I turned 30, with the exception of education fees.

    I'm 31 now, and me and the lawyer in charge of things were talking about meeting up so that I could receive whatever I had left. Unfortunately, that conversation happened right before COVID-19 and the province-wide shutdown. It would be about seven months before we started talking about meeting again.

    I thought I had used up almost all of my share, but it turns out that because of some shrewd investing, I still had about half of my original amount.

    For the meeting, I had to go to Toronto, so I stayed at Lee-Anne's parents' place on a Thursday and got a ride in on Friday. Meaning, I got to hit two of Ontario's COVID hotspots over the weekend. I mentioned briefly that we were in the second wave of the pandemic in my previous post. This was announced nation-wide, and Toronto, Peel Region (which includes Brampton), and Ottawa were scaled back to a "modified Phase 2" of our recovery plan. Waterloo Region, where I live, is still in Phase 3-B for the time being.

     My brother and one of my Toronto aunts met me at the lawyer's office.  They weren't there for me, they had a bit of overlapping business.

    We had to sign the papers in the lobby. The one employee that was in the office had to move to a different room, and we had to lock the door behind us. Everyone had to wear masks, and there was a plexiglass shield between us and the lawyer.

    Despite exchanging emails with him regularly since college, it had only been a few weeks prior that I had heard his voice, when we spoke over the phone about meeting. This was my first time seeing him. Honestly, it had been my impression that this man had been hoping to retire since I first started communicating with him almost a decade ago, and that our family was sort of his "last mission". In my mind's eye, I was picturing someone who was kind of feeble and done with things. By contrast, he seemed surprisingly youthful and vital.

    After the meeting, we celebrated by going to a nearby Polish restaurant. All outdoor dining because it's Phase 2 there. Luckily, weather was good, and I got to eat some cabbage rolls.

    I'm not going to go into specifics about my financial situation. I know in the title I said that I'm rich. That's pretty subjective, and I think many people wouldn't find that was the case if they knew what I had. Still... I was doing a bit better than living month-by-month before this, and now I'm a lot more comfortable than I've ever been before.

Canadian Thanksgiving 2020

Last Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving. It was a little different this year due to the second wave of the pandemic. We were told to forget our social circles and just to celebrate within our own households. I was a good boy and stayed home.

My boss sent us a "Thanksgiving Turkey For One" recipe for people celebrating alone. I won't post it to Gryphood since I couldn't find turkey breast and since opted for two chicken breasts, but here's a recipe and a photo of what I accomplished:

Recipe:

1. Set crockpot to slow
2. In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup orange juice, 1 packet onion soup mix, and 1 can cranberries
3. Put 1 turkey breast in crockpot, drizzle on mixed topping
4. Let cook for six hours

If you want to know what all else is happening in that image, it's just stovetop stuffing (follow the instructions on the package), easysprouts (turns out it was just Brussels sprouts in a ziplock bag, they don't even provide seasoning. I just added oil, salt and pepper), mashed potatoes (I used mayo as a base instead of butter and milk, so it was kind of like warm potato salad), canned gravy, and pumpkin tarts from my recipe on Gryphood.

You can look down on me, but when was the last time you put that much effort on a meal that was just for yourself?

Since Thanksgiving was canceled, it begs the question of what will happen to Halloween. Logic dictates that it isn't happening either, but don't tell that to the stores. Costume sales and bulk candy packs everywhere. Tell the Christmas people too, since the first rendition of egg nog (low fat version) is hitting shelves for the first time this year.

I realize I used a few phrases that I haven't used before on this blog. Here, I'll do a quick Pandemic Phrase Guide. It's three phrases, but they all mean basically the same thing.

Social Circle/Bubble Quarantine/Cohorts: This concept has been being pitched by scientists for awhile. As infection rates were easing and restrictions were being phased out, we were told we could exit our "lockdown" period (meaning you can only interact in close proximity with people in your immediate household), and proceed to develop a "social circle" or "quarantine bubble" of up to ten people. This means that you could create a group of up to ten, including people outside of your household, and if these people all agree not to socialize physically outside this group, it's possible to limit the spread of the infection and ensure that contact tracing is possible (don't think I've covered "Contact Tracing" in a Pandemic Phrase Guide, I'll keep a note of it).

People were really enthusiastic to jump on this concept, and most people didn't have difficulty narrowing their bubble to ten people. Even I developed one. Here, I'll share mine:

1. My girlfriend
2. My mom
3. My brother
4. My roommate
5. My best friend
6. My girlfriend's mom
7. My girlfriend's dad
8. My roommate's son

Look at that! Only eight people! I could even add two more! How socially frugal I am.

The problem is, nobody is doing this in the way the scientists intended. People are coming up with their list of ten, but they aren't ensuring that everyone in that group has the same list of ten.

I really don't want to do this to my own bubble, but for example:

• My girlfriend's three brothers and their significant others would be in her bubble
• My mom's best friend and her spouse would be in her bubble
• My best friend has at least one other friend he interacts with
• My roommate's son interacts with his mother

That's ten people I don't interact with who have access to people in my bubble and are potential viral entryways, and I'm sure they have their own bubbles. So it's not so much a "social circle" as it is a "social chain" or even "social web".

I usually only hear "social circle" by the media, and "cohorts" is a phrase usually used in a professional environment. It's "social bubble" that seems to get abused. "It's okay, you're in my bubble" "I spent the weekend in my bubble" etc.

I added Pumpkin Tarts and Pumpkin Bread to Gryphood:

https://gryphood.blogspot.com/

I'm Moving

 A lot has happened since my last update.

I turned 31. My previous update was actually after my birthday, but I had more to say about QuarantEAFy Day. My 31st went okay. I visited my family in Guelph and Lee-Anne came over on the Saturday. 31 isn't really a landmark year, so it wasn't too dramatic, although the pandemic feels in some ways like it has stolen time. My mom made me pork tenderloin with scalloped potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, and brussels sprouts, and Lee-Anne's mom made a lemon meringue pie for dessert. It was all very good. Lee-Anne also got me a container to knead bread dough in, which was filled with food from Brampton's farmer's market.

On the Sunday, there was a Pokemon Go Community Day, which kind of felt like a gift. This time it was Porygon, the artificial Pokemon. Not my favourite, not the most powerful, kinda rare but old. It did have a new shiny form and special move for the day, so that was exciting.

Community Day was actually a day before my birthday, and the Men's Group I ran before the pandemic coincidentally reopened on my birthday. We're not allowed to do much. We have to be two metres apart at all times, we have to wear masks and we can't go indoors. Suggested activities at the moment are hiking and crafting. I've already had a group get rained out. We took shelter in a local Tim Horton's, but even though we were all recent guests with coffee cups to prove it, there were only a few tables available to make sure that physical distancing requirements were maintained, and of the tables left, they were all unavailable because staff hadn't had a chance to sanitize them since the last patrons had left. So we got cast out and had to hide in a bus shelter.

Remote work has restarted at WALES as well, at a greatly reduced capacity. Supposedly, we're in Phase 3 of a four phase recovery plan, but the provincial government has introduced something called  "Phase 3 B". Feels kind of like when you have homework, and there's only five questions, but then question five is sectioned into three alphabetized questions. So you actually have eight questions, the teacher is just being sneaky.

Regardless, this means that organizations like WALES are being encouraged to reopen physically, with strict safety measures in place. This doesn't effect me as much as most of the staff because my work remains remote. However, I am now a relief staff in addition to my other duties, and last week I was called in twice. So, between the Men's Group and WALES relief, I did my first in-person work in about six months.

I'm moving. I've talked to my roommate about it, I've given my current landlord his two months notice, and two days ago, me and my girlfriend were confirmed for a place. We just signed the lease and submitted our deposit today. The housing market has been really bad for a series of years, in part because we've been turning into a commuter city for people who work in Toronto, with Stratford becoming our commuter city for us.

However, due to our two universities and our community college changing largely to an online format, many students are choosing not to move away from home. At the same time, the government took back eviction protection for people struggling financially during the pandemic, and Air BNBs have been struggling to stay in business. All these factors have caused a confused housing market and a temporary relaxation in renting prices.

 So, it's time to move.

We viewed seven places. The first place we saw was a main-level apartment with tall ceilings. We didn't really know what we were looking for, but they advertised themselves as having air conditioning, and it turned out they only had a portable one, which had been replaced and was leaving with the current tenants, and the guy was unclear about whether or not he would replace it. It said they had laundry too, but it was in a neighbouring tenant's space and we didn't get to see it or meet the person. We took a pass.

The second place we saw was pretty nice, but they advertised their ceilings as being 6'5". I'm 6'3", and my head was touching the ceiling. We quickly figured out that these listings are like guys on dating websites, lying about their height. Third place had the same issue. It also had a very strange saleswoman who rushed us out in under five minutes, clearly resented us being there, and pretty much told us she wouldn't rent to us. Weird experience. Even weirder, she's still advertising it, meaning she hasn't taken anyone.

Fourth place was a main-level with really tall ceilings, a ton of space, a low price, and in a good area. It was the first place we were excited about. We went back to my place and sent our references, and immediately got a message back saying that they had gone with someone else.

Fifth place was a basement apartment. Two bedrooms, decent ceiling height, good price, good location for transit and groceries. Two sinks in the bathroom. Very thorough application form.

Sixth place was enormous and very cheap. I think it was larger and cheaper than the fourth place. It was a one bedroom with three "dens" which were apparently too small to be legally called bedrooms, but I've definitely seen rooms smaller than those advertised as bedrooms. Right in the heart of student housing, though. Clearly a repurposed student four-bedroom that couldn't rent because of the new online education format. We liked it enough to give it a chance despite the location, but someone had put down a deposit before the viewing even happened, and the person giving us the tour said other people would only be considered if she said that she didn't want it. She wanted it.

Seventh place, Lee-Anne couldn't make it so I headed the charge. It had a shared backyard with a ton of potential for gardening. Had some cannabis plants (legal in Canada), so obviously the other tenants were into gardening as well. Basement apartment, but it was on a hill, so the backyard was level with the unit. 

Wound up getting the fifth place. There was a delay in response, so I figured we didn't get it based on how fast this game had proven to be, but I'm happy to have been wrong in this case.

By the way, Donald Trump, President of the United States, has caught COVID-19 and has been hospitalized.